


Family is Family

by MaikaMaika



Category: The Bright Sessions (Podcast), The Infinite Noise - Lauren Shippen
Genre: Adam is woke, Also I forgot to mention that there are a few nsfw jokes, Also there's some fluff, And Caleb is demi because I say so, And that's the teenage agenda, Because they're teenage boys, Caleb says fuck, Hurt/Comfort, Just some bad dick jokes, M/M, also caleb says the fuck word a lot..., also! it's multi-media!, and Alice is the chaotic little sister we all aspire to be, because he's Caleb, because it's kinda one of the main themes, i guess?, more humor than originally intended, nothing explicit tho, so the word count is a lot longer than it seems, warning for homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-02-07 08:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18617338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaikaMaika/pseuds/MaikaMaika
Summary: "If it had been anyone else Caleb would have told them to go fuck themselves, but this wasn't an anonymous person on the street; this was family."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CrayolaRainbow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrayolaRainbow/gifts).



> Thanks so much to Katie (CrayolaRainbow) for being such an amazing beta reader! If you like this you will love her stuff, so go check her out and give her fics the love they deserve!!
> 
> A lot of this fic is just me projecting all my insecurities onto Caleb because he's a Relatable Teen. Oops.
> 
> I have to make a lot of images for this fic which can get very crowded very quickly, so instead of uploading it all at once I'm gonna release it in chapters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to Katie (CrayolaRainbow) for being such an amazing beta reader! If you like this you will love her stuff, so go check her out and give her fics the love they deserve!!
> 
> A lot of this fic is just me projecting all my insecurities onto Caleb because he's a Relatable Teen. Oops.
> 
> I have to make a lot of images for this fic which can get very crowded very quickly, so instead of uploading it all at once I'm gonna release it in chapters.

Thanksgiving in the Michaels family was always a lively event. It usually took place at the family lakehouse a few hours out of town, but this year Caleb’s aunt had insisted that they spend the holiday at her house. The rescheduling added an extra five hours to the already long car ride and Caleb was far from thrilled. But there was nothing the Michaels wouldn’t do for family, and if that meant enduring eight hours of being stuck inside a cramped car then so be it.

 

Caleb watched his 4G drop as the fields grew thicker and the houses moved further apart. He tried passing the time by listening to the playlist Adam had sent him, but the 80’s rock ballads his dad insisted on playing kept drowning it out. He tried texting Adam instead.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna try to update this as soon as I finish making the next text scene :)
> 
> (Also there will be more actual writing later, I promise)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite a bit longer and heavier than the first chapter because I have no consistency.
> 
> Thanks again to Katie for beta reading this!

After listening to “I would walk five hundred miles” for what felt like the twentieth time, Alice’s constant stream of “are we there yet” was finally answered with a “yes”.

 

The house was smaller than he remembered. As a child, he had seen his aunt’s house as a mansion full of winding stairways and secret doors, but five years later it just looked like any old farmhouse. The house wasn’t small per se, it just didn’t have as many towers and dragons as he remembered. The moment he set his foot in the door it felt like he was transported ten years back in time. Memories he thought he had forgotten came streaming back with everything he looked at.

 

As soon as Aunt Andrea finished hugging everyone she rushed Caleb and Alice up to the guest room with comments about how it was “way past bedtime”, despite Caleb being nearly an adult. But she wasn’t wrong; he could feel his eyelids grow heavy as soon as his head hit the pillow. The nostalgic smell of the wooden house filled his head with happy memories as he drifted off to sleep.

 

***

 

Caleb spent most of the morning trying to avoid getting pulled into the kitchen. It wasn’t that he didn’t like to spend time with his aunt, hell, it didn’t even have anything to do with cooking; he would just rather not have to spend the next two hours peeling potatoes as he listened to his grandpa's military stories for the fiftieth time. He managed to dodge Aunt Andrea for most of the afternoon before she finally caught up with him.

 

“Hey, Caleb.”

 

Caleb stopped dead in his tracks.

 

“Yes?” Caleb wasn’t a psychic but he could already see the mountains of potatoes and cuts the next hour had in store for him.

 

“Ah, there you are; David’s been looking for you,” Aunt Andrea said.

 

“Oh?”

 

“Yes, he just came home from his friend’s place. He’s been looking forward to seeing you all week. I’ll call him down. Oh, he's going to be so happy to see you again!”

 

David’s face lit up as soon as he saw Caleb. The kid had looked up to him since before he could crawl, and as soon as he learned to walk he followed Caleb wherever he went. He was that special blend of endearing and annoying young children master so well. David wasted no time on dragging Caleb up to his room to show him the super awesome new action figures he got for his birthday.

 

While listening to David attempting to explain the plot of his favourite cartoon, Caleb slipped his phone out of his pocket. He turned on the screen but there were no new messages; he didn’t know what he was expecting. David’s voice was getting loud and his words were too fast and nonsensical. Caleb needed some peace but he didn’t have the heart to leave David, so he endured. At least his childish enthusiasm and imagination was somewhat entertaining.

 

“When I play football,” David said. “I’m gonna just punch them all right in the face, like this!” He boxed wildly into the air with his tiny fists. “And then I’m gonna kick ‘em all like, boom, pow!” his foot almost grazed Caleb’s shin. He looked up at Caleb in hopes that his violent tactics would impress his older cousin.

 

Caleb laughed.“They’re gonna disqualify you, dude.”

 

“Why?” David was genuinely confused.

 

After Caleb had spent roughly ten minutes trying to explain the actual rules of football, David was surprised to find that most of his brilliant tactics would probably get him disqualified. He was especially disappointed to learn that weapons weren’t allowed on the field. Afterwards, David filled him in on all the grade three drama and gossip.

 

“I saw Leo and Sophie holding hands at school,” David said. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I don’t get it. Girls are gross!”

 

Caleb’s dad had thankfully managed to shorten his “girls are gross” phase by having a serious talk about gender roles with him, but he still remembered going through a very short phase where he and his friends teased the girls mercilessly. The teachers had brushed it off, saying that he probably just did it to get their attention because he “like liked” them. But Caleb’s motivation had never been romantic, he barely even knew what romance was at that point. He was just a little shit.

 

In hindsight, he wished that a teacher had stepped in and realized how stupid and harmful their reasoning was. Instead, they had just made assumptions that resulted in kids getting bullied right underneath their noses. Heteronormativity strikes again.

 

“Girls are actually pretty cool,” Caleb said. “If you’re nice to them they might want to be your friends,”

 

David crossed his arms.“Hmpf, I don’t want a girlfriend. I’m never going to marry a girl!”

 

Caleb laughed.“Me too, buddy.”

 

***

 

The doorbell rang and Aunt Andrea called for them to come down and welcome the newly arriving family members. David groaned and followed Caleb down the stairs.

 

The hallway was crowded with Michaels’ greeting each other. It was a constant swirl of warm orange and yellow, but it was still overwhelming. It was loud in every way possible so he stuck by Alice’s side and tried to focus on her familiar emotions.

 

After a while, the group started dying down and settling into conversations that moved to the living room. Caleb followed Alice who was chatting with Aunt Andrea and Grace.

 

“How old are you, Grace?” Alice asked.

 

“Six!” Grace held up her hand and one thumb proudly.

 

Alice pretended to act surprised and Grace was absolutely delighted by the attention.

 

“Yes, all the teachers have told me that she’s way ahead of her age,” Andrea bragged. “She’s been answering questions for things the teachers haven’t even taught her yet, so we’re thinking about possibly moving her up a grade.”

 

“Mhm!” Grace beamed.

 

Caleb could feel the pride and excitement bubbling in Grace. It felt nice, but there was a strange tint to it like there was something hiding just beneath the surface.

 

Before he had time to dwell more on it his mother tapped him on the shoulder and pulled him discreetly off to the side.

 

“I need to talk to you for a moment,” she said.

 

 _Shit._ What had he done now?

 

“Why?” Caleb asked, but she was already on her way towards the stairs.

 

As he followed her up the stair he could feel waves of tension rolling off her. He followed her into their guest room and she closed the door without a word. She gestured for him to sit down beside her on the bed.

 

He could hear the murmur of his family’s voices drift up through the floorboards. There was a dull hint of excitement coming from them, but it was hard to focus on them while his mother’s anxiety was piercing through his skin. She let out a breath and he felt some of her nerves lighten a little.

 

“Caleb, your father and I both love you very much,”

 

“Yes, I know.”

 

Her stress was replaced with something warm for a moment before the anxiety settled back in again. She continued.

 

“And you know that we love Adam too.”

 

“Of course. You’ve never felt anything negative towards him; well, except for that one time he called me at 3 am, but that’s a different story.”

 

“We will always love and support you no matter what, but…”. She paused at a lack of words. His dad had always been the one who was better at talking about emotional stuff.

 

“I know, but…”

 

“But that’s not how everyone is,”

 

Caleb nodded. He already knew where this was going but he let her continue.

 

“Your Aunt Andrea is one of those people.” Her anxiety was morphing into pity and he hated it. “We’re really happy that you found such a great boyfriend but…”

 

“But Aunt Andrea wouldn’t be,” he finished. He honestly hadn’t given it much thought -sure, he knew she was quite a bit more conservative than them, but it had never crossed his mind that she was one of _those_ people. He hadn’t really had to deal with people like that before; he knew he would have to eventually, but he had always pictured that it would be from some stranger on the street.

 

He had already planned the entire encounter out in his head: some creep would come with an off-hand homophobic comment towards Adam, and Caleb would step in and intimidate the dude. While the asshole is trying to back down Adam would destroy him with his awesome nerd powers in a verbal debate. It was a perfect little daydream where the heroes won in the end; Adam would call it a cliche but Caleb had always enjoyed a satisfying ending.

 

But Andrea wasn’t the villain he had been expecting. If she were to play a part in a movie she would play the kind maiden who bakes cakes and sings with the birds, not the antagonist who opposes the main character’s love. Morally gray characters seemed so much more fun when Adam was talking about them, but meeting them in real life was a whole other story.

 

“I just wanted you to know, so you would be prepared in case you chose to talk about Adam.”

 

“You’re feeling sceptical? You don’t think that would be a good idea.”

 

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s ultimately your own choice, but she has some quite outdated views and we don’t know how she would react. It’s not that I don’t want you to be open-”

 

“No, I know,” he interrupted. “I wasn’t really thinking about bringing him up anyways. I don’t know if I really feel like being bombarded by wedding questions, y’ know?”

 

His mother’s lips formed a thin smile.

 

“Yes, she seems to be quite obsessed with that. She has already started talking to me about Alice’s future wedding.”

 

“But Alice hasn’t even held hands with anyone.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

“Well, it’s not like I need to worry about that anymore,” Caleb laughed darkly.

 

His mom nodded.

 

They sat together in silence for a few moments before she cleared her throat.

 

“Let’s go back downstairs; It sounds like they’ve started setting the table.”

 

“Yeah, that would explain why I just felt David get really pissed.”

 

***

 

Caleb and his mom arrived just as Andrea was bringing in the last trays of food; it was a miracle that she managed to fit it on the already crowded table. Even with the large number of people, there was no doubt there would be leftovers for days.

 

“Caleb! Caleb! Over here!” David was patting the empty seat beside him.

 

Caleb squeezed in on the empty seat between David and Grace. He looked almost comically large and out of place beside them on the kids end of the table.

 

Andrea stood up and clinked a silver spoon against her wine glass and waited until she had everyone’s attention.

 

“Before we say grace, I would just like us to go around the table and say a few things we’re thankful for this year” She smiled warmly at her family. “I’ll go first: I thank God for giving me such a loving family,”

 

This wasn’t the first time Caleb had heard Aunt Andrea hold one of her famous speeches about love and family. They usually lasted anywhere from five to fifteen minutes so he prepared to sit still and listen for a while. For some reason, he couldn’t get himself to concentrate on her words. Every time she said something about unconditional love there was always something in the back of his head that told him that she wasn’t talking about him. He wondered if she really understood what she was talking about at all. How could someone consider themselves an expert on love while opposing it at the same time? Did she not notice her own hypocrisy? He wasn’t sure if her speech made him more angry at her or himself.

 

He guessed that he had roughly five minutes after Andrea finished before it’d be his turn to talk. He wanted to think of something slightly original so say so he started thinking about all the unusual and amazing things that had happened to him that year. First off, there was Dr B, but thanking your therapist at a family dinner seemed kind of inappropriate; then there were his friends who had made him feel normal despite them being some of the most unusual people he knew, but talking about your superhero friends didn’t seem fitting (or legal) either.

 

And then, of course, there was Adam. He wanted to gush about how lucky he made him feel and how proud he was of him; how sometimes the only thing he wanted was to feel normal, but Adam made him proud to be different. Before he met Adam he had never really understood the hype around love songs on the radio, but after they kissed all the songs were suddenly about them. Caleb didn’t see himself as a particularly sappy person but sometimes he really felt like he wanted to live every dumb fairytale trope with Adam.

 

He didn’t notice that it was almost his turn until Andrea turned to Grace.

 

“And what are you thankful for, honey?”

 

Grace paused in thought and Caleb used the time to try to come up with something but he always ended up circulating back to Dr Bright, the other atypicals, and Adam.

 

“I thank God for the people who help me,” Grace began. “And all my friends.” She paused again but this time it seemed like she was really trying to concentrate. It was like she was trying to listen to something she couldn’t quite pick up on.

 

Thank God for the indecisiveness of small children, Caleb thought. But despite the extra time he couldn’t get Adam out if his head. Every time he told himself to stop thinking about him he ended up getting dragged further down the rabbit hole of reasons why he was so thankful for Adam.

 

“And Adam,” Grace said.

 

Caleb almost did a double take. It was almost as if she had read his…

 

 _oh, shit shit shit shit shit_.

 

He remembered the strange tint to her emotions. How did he not notice earlier? Atypical abilities run in families after all.

 

 _Fuck_.

 

“Who’s Adam?”  Aunt Andrea asked.

 

Grace looked just as confused as everyone else. She shrugged.

 

He had to think of a way to save himself, fast. What other Adams did he know? For some reason, his mind kept replaying the “Adam” vine. He cursed gen Z humour as he racked his brain to try to come up with something else. He needed something that would be slightly more appropriate.

 

“Uh, did you maybe mean Adam, as in Adam and Eve?” He tried to think real hard about them in hopes that she would pick up on it.

 

“Yeah, I guess,” she said.

 

Caleb could feel the pride rolling off Aunt Andrea. She seemed to be extremely satisfied with the answer and took the opportunity to go off on another one of her speeches.

 

“Ah, yes, our shared father and mother. The parents who bind us all together as one big family and the children of God. God created the man in his image and then he created the woman to be his perfect partner, blessing us with marriage and the beauty of childbirth. We must always remember that the most beautiful bond is the love that binds a man and his wife. What a beautiful thing to be thankful for, Grace.”

 

Annoyance built in his dad across the table. He cleared his throat.

 

“It’s 2016; there are more forms of marriage than that between a man and a woman.”

 

At once everyone’s eyes were on his father. Caleb resisted the urge to facepalm.

 

Caleb appreciated his father’s interruption, but at the same time, he wanted to leap over the table and physically stop him from starting the argument that would undoubtedly break loose. He felt his stomach sink as embarrassment and annoyance spiked in Aunt Andrea and a few other people around the table. He wanted to be the one who shot her argument down, but he knew he would probably just stay quiet and pretend that he didn’t have any opinions on the topic. It felt like watching someone drop a match into a pit of dynamite in slow motion.

 

“Just because it’s legal now doesn’t mean I have to agree with it,” Uncle Ben said. “Let’s say they set up a law that allowed people to marry animals-”

 

“Well, then it’s a good thing that humans and dogs are pretty different.” His dad was starting to raise his voice.

 

“What he’s trying to say is that marriage has always been between man and woman,”  Aunt Andrea said.

 

“Yes, but let’s not get into politics,” his other aunt interrupted.

 

“This isn’t politics; it’s about basic human rights!” His dad stood up.

 

“Well, it’s my right to say that I don’t think that those people deserve it.” Andrea stood up to look her brother in the eye.

 

If it had been anyone else Caleb would have told them to go fuck themselves. But then it wasn’t some stranger on the street or an unnamed student in the hallway; this was family, people he had trusted and adored since he was a child. He had memories with these people; memories of lazy summer afternoons, swimming at the lakehouse, late night campfires, and homemade lemonade. Some of his best childhood memories had been spent with the same people who might not want any part in his future.

 

The tension and stress that was building around the table made it hard to process what was happening. He could either chose to defend himself as some sort of social justice superhero and out himself or he could stay quiet and just try to ignore it. He didn’t like either of the options very much, though standing up as a gay superhero sounded pretty badass in theory, it felt intimidating in real life. He decided to land somewhere on middle ground.

 

“Dad, just let it go.” He was honestly not sure if stopping the argument like this was the right choice, but all he wanted at that moment was for this conversation to end.

 

His father sighed and nodded.

 

“Agree to disagree, eh?” his uncle said.

 

He could still feel his father’s anger and Caleb felt bad for shutting him down. He wondered if it would have been better if he had let the argument continue.

 

The table fell uncomfortably quiet for a moment before Aunt Andrea spoke up.

 

“It’s your turn, Caleb, dear.” Aunt Andrea was smiling again as if nothing had happened, but Caleb could feel her tenseness across the table.

 

“Well,” Caleb started. The discussion had made him completely forget about what he was going to say.

 

“Football is fun, I guess,” he shrugged.

 

***

 

The food was amazing as usual. After finishing off his second plate and being well on his way with his third he started feeling clouded and drowsy. He usually started feeling a food coma come on after four plates so the drowsiness caught him off guard. He shrugged it off and blamed it on tiredness from babysitting. Over the next thirty minutes, his head began swimming more and more until he had to excuse himself to get a breath of fresh air.

 

The room stopped spinning as soon as he got out in the hallway. He took a deep breath as some of the drowsiness melted off him. He took a minute to admire the old photographs on the wall. The pictures hung so thickly that they might as well have been the wallpaper. Most of the pictures were from family outings, and some of them even included younger versions of him and Alice. Then one particular picture caught his eye.

 

He hadn’t thought about the scene for years but as soon as he saw the photo it was like he was back at the old log cabin once again; he could practically smell the summer air and the dry grass. He remembered being forced to group together with everyone on the front porch. He and Alice were sitting in the middle of the large group of Michaels cousins; it was one of the rare occasions where most of the cousins were gathered in one spot. He seemed so small; he swore he had been much bigger than that. Other than her head of big curly hair, Alice was almost unrecognizable.

 

But the thing that stood out to him the most was the grinning boy sitting next to him; Thomas if he remembered correctly. Thomas was a family friend who lived one house over. He had been accepted as an honorary Michaels cousin and he spent most summers with them. He remembered Thomas’ bright blue eyes and messy hair; he had admired the boy for his encyclopedic knowledge of bug-facts and other gross trivia that young kids found hilarious. Looking back, he probably just made up half of the stuff he said, but that didn’t stop Caleb from admiring him at the time.

 

Caleb _really_ wanted to be his friend, or at least that was what he had told himself when they hid behind the rosebush during hide-and-seek and Caleb’s heart started racing a little too much.

 

He laughed at the old memory and wondered if Thomas was still around.

 

He took out his phone and checked it and to his surprise, his phone lit up with five unread messages.

 

 

 

Talking to Adam almost made him forget about everything that was going on and smile for a moment. How Auntie Andrea didn’t believe that this was love was beyond him. There was no way this wasn’t love.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the picture Caleb saw after googling "muscular Kirby":  
> https://i.redd.it/yb1cbanw5ar21.png
> 
> Adam immediately sets it as Caleb's contact photo.
> 
> I wish I could write an entire fic that's just a bunch of stupid conversations between these two dorks.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit gets worse while Caleb and Adam somehow manage to get even more geeky.
> 
> Featuring me projecting all my nerdy interests onto the boys (as well as some of my angsty insecurities... y'know, just the usual).
> 
> Thanks again to Katie for betaing and dealing with me misspelling the names of my own characters... You're the best!
> 
> Also apologies to anyone who actually ships Ginny and Draco...
> 
>  
> 
> (The website I use to make the images decided to fuck up my stuff so the i's disappear and merge with the f's in random words for no reason... sorry!)

“You feeling better now?” his mom asked him as he re-entered the dining room.

 

He nodded, but as soon as he sat down in his chair the dizziness came back stronger than before. His head was swimming and everything felt like too much. It didn’t help that Uncle Ben had started raising his voice in a drunk speech.

 

Oh, _shit_.

 

Of course, the drowsiness all made sense now.

 

At least three of the adults were slightly tipsy while Uncle Ben felt straight up wine drunk. It was already hard enough to try to keep his thoughts controlled around Grace’s telepathy but now he also had to deal with second-hand tipsiness. He tried to distract himself by joining the debate that had been heating up between his cousins Nora and Chris.

 

“I’m just saying that they don’t make movies as they used to in the olden days,” Nora said as she crossed her arms. While most teenagers go through their rebellious edgelord phase Nora was going through her pretentious classic movie critic phase.

 

“Ugh, you sound like an old woman. All those movies are so slow and boring. Why can’t you just shut up and watch Spiderman Homecoming without talking about ‘classical cinema’ like a normal person?” Chris rolled his eyes.

 

“Excuse me, Casablanca is a classic and no stupid cartoon movie will ever be able to live up to it,”

 

“Oh come on, that’s such bull, Guardians of the Galaxy has a talking racoon; nothing beats a gun-wielding talking racoon, especially not some sappy old romance from a hundred years ago,” Chris snorted.

 

“I don’t see the appeal. Superhero stories are just too unrealistic for me”

 

Their bickering was stressing Caleb out so he decided to break up the argument. He had watched both movies with Adam so he a reasonable amount of knowledge about both movies due to Adam’s constant comments and interruptions.

 

“Look, guys...”

 

Nora’s annoyance spiked as soon as Caleb interrupted while Chris leaned back with a smug look on his face. He probably assumed it would be an easy victory as soon as he got Caleb on his side.

 

“They’re both good movies,” Caleb said. “I mean, yeah, I might have liked Guardians of the Galaxy a little more, but Casablanca was really good too,” He could feel the excitement coming from Nora.

 

“You’ve watched Casablanca? What was your favourite part? Oh my gosh, it was so romantic,” Nora swooned.

 

Caleb hummed in agreement.

 

Chris’s smugness had completely disappeared and morphed into anger as soon as he realized that he wasn’t winning the debate. He turned towards Caleb.

 

“What? Why are you defending her? Are you homo or something?” Chris snapped.

 

_Fuck._

 

He knew the accusation wasn’t meant seriously, but that somehow made it hurt even more. He didn’t answer.

 

“Chris, what have I told you about using bad words at the table?” Andrea broke in from across the table.

 

Well, that wasn’t calming at all. The second-hand tipsiness was making it even harder to form a coherent thought. Chris was still scowling at him.

 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Chris snorted.

 

_Fuck fuck fuck._

 

“I have a girlfriend!” Caleb blurted out. He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.

The alcohol in the air made his voice slightly louder than intended and soon all the eyes were on him.

 

“You have a girlfriend?” Andrea beamed. “How lovely.”

 

“See, I told ya he would turn out to be a real ladies man,” Uncle Ben grinned.

 

“How long have you two been together?”

 

“Do you have a picture?”

 

“When will we meet her?”

 

“What’s her name?”

 

_Shit, shit, shit, shit_ …

 

If he kept lying he would face the consequences eventually but he didn’t know what would happen if he told the truth. He should really consider thinking things through more often.

 

“Uh…” Not knowing the name of his hypothetical girlfriend would be a dead giveaway. Caleb had never been good at improvising or lying, yet he had somehow managed to back himself into a situation where those two skills were crucial.

 

Luckily Alice noticed his distress and came to the rescue.

 

“Ginny!”

 

“Ginny?” aunt Andrea echoed. “What a lovely name!”

 

“Like Ginny from Harry Potter?” David piped up.

 

“Yes…. Exactly”. Caleb was going to kill Alice.

 

***

 

The Dinner was ending and the youngest kids had already gone to sleep. Caleb stopped Alice in the hallway as she was heading up to bed.

 

“ _Ginny?_ Really?”

 

“It’s fitting. Her boyfriend is an impulsive idiot who lives in a closet” Alice grinned.

 

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you just turned Harry Potter into a gay metaphor,” Caleb laughed, some of the annoyance seeping away.

 

“Well, I’ll have to admit, except for that you two are pretty different,”

 

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“First off, he’s a Gryffindor…” Alice teased.

 

“Are you somehow implying that I’m _not_ a Gryffindor?”

 

“Please, you are _such_ a Hufflepuff,” she laughed over her shoulder as she ran up the stairs to bed.

 

Caleb decided to stay up a little longer with the adults. They were chatting mindlessly as they finished off the wine bottle. He could still feel the slight buzz of the alcohol but it was more manageable now that he was getting used to it. Grace’s telepathy wouldn’t be a problem anymore and the tipsiness was making him giggly so he took out his phone and texted Adam under the table.

 

***

("It has more words than the Bible...")

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so the text fic I was talking about possibly starting is definitively becoming a thing! I found an app that allows me to import photos into the texts so I can make even dorkier and sappier conversations between these two dumbasses, so stay tuned for that!
> 
> How many shitty dick jokes can I make before I should change the rating?
> 
> (I am not apologizing to anyone who ships Hermione/Snape)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes while I'm writing scenes between Caleb and Adam I stop up and wonder if I'm making it too sappy... but then I remember their canon conversations and realize that, yes, they are just that in love.
> 
> The final dick joke in this chapter is dedicated to Katie, aka CrayolaRainbow, aka Let Adam Make Dick Jokes. You're the best!

He usually fell asleep very easily, especially after eating that much, but the hurricane in his mind made it impossible to rest. He kept replaying the events from earlier and imagining different scenes and outcomes of what would have happened if he had done something else. In one of them, he kept his stupid mouth shut and endured all the homophobic comments. In another, he stayed at home and spent the weekend with Adam; at this point that one was probably his favourite one. In the last scenario, he dramatically and proudly came out (he even had a speech prepared at this point).

 

 

The worst part wouldn’t be the comments but the fact that he would be able to feel every single feeling that went through everyone in the room. Would it be anger? Pity? Embarrassment? He didn’t want to find out. But at least in that scenario, he wouldn’t have to feel the guilt of lying. The problem wasn’t that he was lying to them, but that it felt more like he was lying to Adam.

 

 

He felt guilty over having to censor himself; it made it seem like he was ashamed of himself or something. He knew shouldn’t be, but back at the dinner table he had felt his gut sink and he hated it. The feeling had caught him off guard. They should be the ones feeling bad about this, not him.

 

 

He sat up in the stiff bed and sneaked over to the dresser to find his phone, careful not to wake Alice. He brought his phone back to his bed and crawled under the covers to minimize the light. Adam usually stayed up pretty late, especially on holidays, so it was no surprise when he responded immediately.

 

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/169664186@N06/47108536224/in/dateposted-public/)

 

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/169664186@N06/47108536014/in/dateposted-public/)

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/169664186@N06/47108536104/in/dateposted-public/)

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/169664186@N06/40931362303/in/dateposted-public/)

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/169664186@N06/47108536184/in/dateposted-public/)

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/169664186@N06/40931362263/in/dateposted-public/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of the things in this are heavily inspired by my own experiences so if anyone who knows me personally reads this they will probably recognize a lot of people haha.
> 
> I ended up creating a lot of OCs for this story so here’s a little more info about them plus some epilogues of sorts:
> 
> The AM has had its eyes on the Michaels family for decades, hence why Caleb was sent to Dr Bright so quickly. The family seems to produce a roughly 50/50 chance of atypicals; however, high-functioning or even rare atypicals are not uncommon (ex: Caleb is a high-functioning empath). Naturally, this means that Caleb, Alice and Grace are far from the only atypicals in the family.
> 
> David will later develop psychic abilities. Just like his sister, his ability starts showing at a very young age; however, it never becomes as strong as his sister’s telepathy. The earliest instance of his psychic ability happens a few months later when he comes crying into his parent’s bedroom talking about the death of their dog. Two weeks later the dog sleeps in peacefully with David by her side. Shortly afterwards he also starts talking about Caleb and his “friend”.
> 
> Nora is a low-level mental time traveller, but at this point, it is only shown as strange “dreams” and a fascination with old movies.
> 
> Uncle Ben is a very low-functioning empath and developed his ability relatively late in life. He could easily develop it more; however, he is ashamed of his ability because he sees it as “weak” and feminine. He is scared of the vulnerability that comes with it so he tries to “make up for it” by constantly trying to prove his manliness. His empathy caused Caleb to be much more affected by his drunkenness.
> 
> “Thomas” is gone and is never coming back. Her name is April now and she is happier than ever. April is studying to become a vet and she seems to have a very strange connection to animals, though nothing unusual has developed yet. (I’m writing a fic that involves her but I have no idea when I’ll finish it. Also sorry for deadnaming/misgendering her in Caleb’s flashbacks. I’m probably gonna touch upon that in the one-shot. Just know that I love her a lot and I’ve gotten way too attached to her)
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO!! I'm gonna write another text fic without homophobic aunts and heavy plot, so if you liked this fic be sure to go check it out :)
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/18907147/chapters/44881600

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna try to update this as soon as I finish making the next text scene :)
> 
> (Also there will be more actual writing later, I promise)


End file.
